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n“To all of those that have been able to come here, welcome to the Leio Auction House once more.” Just as it seemed like the clamor amongst the audience seemed to have no end, a man that looked to be in his early thirties, dressed in a dark gray suit, appeared on the stage, beaming a smile as he looked at the audience.

n“I presume that a great portion of you have already seen me during the auction that was held around a month ago,” said the man with a chuckle, neatly combing his slightly unkempt blonde hair as he continued. “As for those that have only come to the auction house for the first time, my name is Sirius Leio.”

n“Though I may come from the Imperial Leio clan, I am the head appraiser of this branch of the Leio Auction House, having worked as one for over a decade already. I hope that alone can assure you that the items that we’ll be showing in this auction have the auction house’s full seal of approval.”

n“Before we begin auctioning off the items people have graciously trusted to us, let me remind everyone that bidding on an item is on a first come, first serve basis.” As he said these words, Sirius flared a portion of his aura towards the audience, causing everyone to look in his direction as his voice had become the only source of sound within the auction house.

n“Let me also remind everyone that any succeeding bid must be higher than the previous bid, or else you’ll only make yourself look like a fool.” Sirius let out a bit of laughter.𝒩𝗈𝑣𝐥xt.𝒞𝑂𝔪

n“And lastly, those who have been successful in obtaining items from the auction shall obtain the protection of the Leio Auction House until they reach a place that they deem safe.” At these words, the man flared a bit more of his aura, causing some of them to start shivering under the pressure.

n“This is a rule that the auction house has added due to the events that are currently happening,” said Sirius. “As one of the most trusted auction houses in the continent, we aim to give those that obtain their items from the auction house through fair means peace of mind.”

n“And with that out of the way, let us start off this auction with our first item!”

n…

nAs the audience near the stage started to give Sirius a soft round of applause as the first item in the auction was being displayed, Valyr looked at the man to his side for a bit, whose face currently had a soft smile on it.

n“Say, Julian,” Valyr asked the man. “By pulling favors and using favors, what kind did you use exactly?”

n“Well… let’s just say that some of the other production guilds owe me one after helping them out back then.” In response, Julian looked back at Valyr before giving him a faint grin. “A great number of combat guilds also owe me one, as well as a few people that you’d consider to have high levels of authority in the empire.”

n“Either way, I was surprised that a lot of them were fine with me using the favor on an impromptu auction,” he continued, laughing not long after. “Then again, I’m pretty sure they’ll earn a lot of money from this as well.”

n“I guess you must be quite the outgoing person, then,” replied Valyr, wryly smiling as he thought about his own social skills. “For so many to be fine with helping you out, that must be the case.”

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n“Well, I do like forging friendships with other people.” Julian nodded in agreement, only to faintly shake his head soon after. “However, that’s only part of the equation.”

n“Without the strength I currently have, the ability I have as a blacksmith, and the authority I have as the Blacksmith Guild’s leader, probably 80% of the people I asked for this impromptu auction wouldn’t have responded to me.”

n“In any case, there’s not much point dwelling in all of that,” said Julian as he let out a chuckle to change the topic. “All I look forward to at the moment is the price your spear fetches in this auction.”

n“Thank you.” After pondering over Julian’s words silently for quite some time, Valyr eventually blurted out these words, prompting the former to look at him with confusion for a bit before letting out some laughter.

n“There’s no need to thank me.” Julian waved his hands in nonchalance as he looked back at the stage, though a wide smile adorned his face. “I’m just giving your work the stage it properly deserves.”

n“…” Looking at Julian for a bit, Valyr briefly scratched his head as he wondered whether or not now was the right time to ask the other question that had popped up in his mind. In the end, he decided to save the thought for later and redirected his attention back to the stage, seeing that the first item had finally been set up properly.

n…

n“To start off this auction, the first item is considerably on the more common side, yet is still rare to obtain through normal means.” Turning around to look behind him, Sirius was greeted by the sight of beautiful women in dresses holding up a couple trays that contained vials of viscous fluid.

n“As you can see before you, we have here 50 vials of Greater Health Potions, Greater Mana Potions, and Greater Stamina Potions each,” said the man as he moved to the side, allowing the women to walk around the stage to show off the goods to the audience. “Having reached Greater tier, all of these potions have incredibly potent effects, allowing even those at the brink of death to return to their peak condition.”

n“With that, we’ll be starting it off with the Greater Health Potions, selling it in sets of 10.” At these words, the women lined themselves up beside Sirius, prompting a slight grin to appear on his face as he continued.

n“The initial bidding price is 30 gold coins for a set of 10. Any bid must be higher than the previous bid by at least one gold coin.”

n“And with all of that said, the bid is now open!”

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